Casting with a Fragile Thread

CASTING WITH A FRAGILE THREAD: A STORY OF SISTERS AND AFRICA: Wendy Kann: Henry Holt and Company: Biography: 284 pages

Growing up in a tumultuous part of Africa would be hard for anyone. Add to that a plethora of familial problems and you get a general idea of Wendy Kann’s life. This autobiography mainly deals with the author’s struggle to find, and sometimes create, herself—a difficult task considering her emotionally and mentally trying background. The book follows Kann’s life from when she was a little girl in colonial Rhodesia to a worrisome mother in Connecticut. It portrays her feelings and thoughts—or occasional lack thereof—about her mother’s alcoholism, her father’s death, her stepmother’s precarious acceptance of her, her reactions to the Rhodesian war, her courtship and marriage, her attempts to belong in America, her experiences in Hong Kong, and her aspirations on being a good mother. But it is dealing with her sister’s untimely, premature death and the pressing need to take care of her sister’s child that help Kann realize how her past and where she comes from have made her who she is.

It is amazing and refreshing to see the author put all of herself in the book. She is not the admirable heroine. She has faults and fears. She makes mistakes. She is human. Her emotions are real, her opinions are honest. And her quest to feel like she belongs is one that any reader can relate to, no matter how their background compares with Kann’s. A realistic though sad story, it is a unique journey that can help one look inward at their own path in life to see what things have shaped them while inspiring courage to gain the strength offered from enduring life’s trials.

HMT